I don’t watch the news. I go looking for the news; the news that relates to me, the news that is important to me, and the news that I can possibly do something to change. I will not let my life be coloured by people who sit in executive offices deciding what the masses will digest most. Apparently fear and people behaving badly is their successful business model, good for them for finding it, and good for us for tuning out.
But how easy is it to tune out? Even the wisest people I know, at times, get swept away by the latest trend or story. It’s exciting to be connected and in the know. But how much of our story is sponsored by corporations?
Most of the fashion we see in the hip hop world was driven by corporations going into the hood and giving free stuff to gangsters. The look caught on and presto, you’ve got a bunch of people walking around with their pants around their ankles not even knowing they’re a corporate puppet. How smart is that really?
It’s time to pull up the pants folks!
We need to teach ourselves and our children the value of self. We need to ask ourselves before we follow the latest trend or waste another week doing nothing but witnessing life, what is it that I’m all about at the core, why do I like this show/shoe/story so much? Is it because I think I’m supposed to, or is it because it genuinely resonates with me? Then we need to take it further and see why it resonates with us, is it because it resonated with our neighbour? Our parent? Our spouse? The cool kid in school? Someone we don’t even really know on facebook?
This is difficult work to do, and it can be lonely to step away from the crowd, but, I think it’s necessary to ensure that at the end of your life you don’t feel like you wasted it going in the wrong direction and therefore never finding your best, truest self.
Your family and birth place was just the way you got here, the beginning of your story. You’re a free spirit here to explore an exciting life meant just for you. You won’t find it in stuff. You won’t find a nice tidy guide book to get you there either, but if you turn off the noise often enough to hear your inner voice, you may find a few bread crumbs left by your spirit guides to help you find YOUR way.
We are stardust, we are golden, and we’ve got to find our way back to the garden. – Joni Mitchell